Proprioception is closely linked to balance and stability. It provides feedback to the brain regarding body position and center of gravity, helping maintain equilibrium. The information received through proprioceptive receptors assists in adjusting muscle tension and joint movements to prevent falls and maintain stability.
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I am no expert but it makes sense that using additional sensory input (ie weighted vest etc) can help increase the signal to let our brain know where our bodies are in space.
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Lady4
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Thanks for sharing this. My daughter has been told by her occupational therapist that she shouldn’t use any aids for sensory input for her proprioceptive issues, but I’ve seen lots of evidence that it can really help. It’s confusing as we don’t want to do the wrong thing, but what if using a weighted vest helped her feel her feet on the ground…?!
The reason was because “her brain might start to rely on the aids”. My daughter (18) has trouble grounding herself to feel fully in contact with the floor, and she also struggles with movement when she is walking, eg if a cyclist goes past she veers off in that direction. We think the extra sensory input (weighted vest or neck wrap) might help.
I think the sensory aids should be seen as temporary. I have bought several but none were used for long periods. The weighted blanket is now just in living room and used as a blanket (as winter ones have been put away). Travel black out mask was helpful with light sensitivity and sleep needed during the day (when he had barely any sleep at night) but is used for travel now. Not 100% certain what I bought heated neck wrap for but not heavy, think it was for headaches as they can start sometimes happen due to neck strain. Chilled headache hat bought for headaches etc.
I see them in helping re-train the brain. Ie helping you achieve a goal, gaining confidence in a task/movement and then reducing extra input. The brain hopefully will think, yep she has got it, i'll take a backstep but I can also see her concerns but FND isn't black and white.
Just a thought, does she sense the cyclist near her, could she have a crystal or something with a texture in her pocket to just grab and ground herself, I saw a video where someone used this technique to ground herself to prevent seizures when out (pretty sure there was another external focus task too).
I am struggling to think where I saw the video/real life story.
That sounds good. I’ll chat to her about that and see if we can come up with something to hold. Thanks!
She is doing a Ballet degree at a vocational dance school and is hoping to go back in a few weeks for her final year. Her college are not being at all helpful and the anxiety of that exacerbates dizziness and walking speed (she comes to a complete standstill). She can still dance to a really high level though as her brain decided not to interfere with that part of her.
Guessing thats because she is really focused and determined and confident in her ability to dance and no doubt just goes for it and ultimately takes control and her brain probably thinks (she has got this :-).
Aww, thank you for saying that. We have to deal with so many negative things in life that it’s such a lovely surprise when we hear someone else remind us of the positives. ☺️
You know one of the first things I learned when I joined Re-Active is they make everything fun and celebrate the "wins" and that was our first week Community posts from recollection, everyone saying what went well that week, it was inspirational.
Sorry, I should have clarified, are you a paid member?. I paid around £150-£165 (can't quite recall for 3 mths -special intro offer to get Education sessions, exercise classes, re-centre (mindfulness) classes which were we good as they are so softly spoken and was part of their FND Community.
I get their emails but the PT ones, so get advice and tips how assessments should be done properly (some interesting takeaways).
Its currently 99 dollars a month with a special offer of 69 dollars for the first month. I am not sure how many members there are in the FND Community now, think there were over 100 when I left, I got to top 3 once (but kinda burn't out cross posting articles).
I am not a professional (just a mother of a child who has been on this journey) but admire their dedication and love their "emphasise of having fun and making the treatment "person centred" and their positivity in celebrating "the little wins" and sharing within the Community.
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is it FND or Ataxia 
Overexhersion
Confused
FND Conversion Disorder - not treatable
